The United States and the European Union (EU) have a historic opportunity—perhaps their last—to be leaders in building the digital market of the future. To do so, they must seize the opportunity to create a transatlantic digital single market stretching from Silicon Valley to Tallinn, Estonia. Together, they can give a new burst of energy to a global Internet economy centered on thriving digital commerce, innovation, creativity, online security, and citizens’ rights. The newest report of the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative, “Building a Transatlantic Digital Marketplace: Twenty Steps Toward 2020,” evaluates the state of play on the most pressing digital policy issues across five interlocking areas, and identifies twenty steps that the United States and the EU can begin to take between now and 2020 to build a transatlantic marketplace, encourage trust, and preserve the Internet as a global commercial commons and a public good.

The report is a publication of the Atlantic Council’s Task Force on Advancing a Transatlantic Digital Agenda, co-chaired by former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt and former US Ambassador to the European Union William E. Kennard, and authored by former Director of Transatlantic Relations at the Bertelsmann Foundation Tyson Barker. The task force explores the importance of creating a transatlantic digital marketplace, the challenges such a task will face, and the opportunities it offers both sides of the Atlantic.